My Journey ... in life and in the world: Kauai

In mid-January I went to Kauai with Stephanie, Mickel, Kaiya and Teague. The weather in Utah was stuck in deep freeze/inversion mode, so it was a great time to go somewhere warm! We did have a few rain showers here and there, but I'll take a warm rain over bitter cold pollution any time.

We stayed in a time-share on the northern end of the island. It could have used a little updating, but it was really a great space, with plenty of room for all of us.

This is what our schedule was for the most part: get up, eat breakfast, pack a lunch, go to the beach, eat lunch, go get a treat, go to another beach, go out to dinner, and home to bed. These pics start with the first beach we went to, which was so serene and lovely. After that, I lost track of the name and location of the various beaches.

We arrived Saturday night. On Sunday, after a day at the beach, we went on a whale-watching trip (unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures myself ... I'll have to see if Steph and Mickel got some). I've always wanted to do this, but have never been at the islands at the proper time. However, I have to say that I had my doubts at the beginning of the excursion. It was a little on the cold side, plus the boat was basically a river-run type of raft powered by a motor. We were instructed to loop our feet through various ropes to keep from being tossed out. We took off, over a somewhat-less-than-calm sea and then it started to rain. Water is not really an element in my comfort zone, so I was holding on for dear life, getting soaked by the rain, wondering if this trip was really such a good idea after all. No whales in sight, not that we could see much in the rain. But then ... slowly at first ... we began spotting the spouts indicating a whale (Kaiya and Teague: "Say 'Thar she blows,' Grammie." - courtesy of their reading of Moby Dick). The lady driving the boat asked Kaiya if she wanted to drive. It took a little convincing, but Kaiya got up and took the wheel (with some assistance from Tara, of course). She looked like such a proud little sailor, headed out to sea! And pretty soon we started REALLY seeing the whales. A lot of them, and pretty darn close (I'm fairly sure a couple of them went right under our boat). It was so amazing, to be that close to such a magnificent animal. Kaiya was quite proud to have driven the boat right to the whales. It was truly an awesome experience.

Another day we hiked part of the Nepali coast - and again, I didn't get any pictures though I know Steph did. It was a 4 mile hike. The distance isn't a problem for me, I go that far almost every weekday. But the vertical was a bit challenging. I just kept thinking that if a four year old and a six year old can do it, I have to do it too. It actually wasn't too bad until the descent wrecked my knee. At any rate, those views ... A MAAAA ZZ ING.

So here's a bunch of beach photos, in no particular order.

OK, this isn't a beach shot - just wanted to see if you're paying attention. As you may know, wild chickens are a part of Hawaiian life, and I think the roosters are particularly pretty. But, as the locals say, they're quite dumb and crow all day long.

At Poipu Beach, Steph & Mickel rented a paddle board for a couple of days, and got pretty good at it (that's Mickel out in the distance on the first photo below). I took it out once, but didn't get to the standing position. We also snorkeled, though I didn't do it very much. There's something about snorkeling that gives me claustrophobia. I'm okay if I'm in a place where I can easily stand up, but there weren't many fish in the shallow water. The kids really got the hang of snorkeling, though, and had a ton of fun with it.